Solid fuel



Patented July 7, 1942 SOLID FUEL Ferdinand Ringer. New York, N. Y., assignor to Burnol Products, Inc., New York, N. Y.

No Drawing. Application May 21, 1941,

Serial No. 394,497

-' Claims., ((31.44-1) My invention relates to solid fuels for household purposes and the like.

The general object of the invention is to provide a safe and improved fuel of this character in the form of readily prepared tablets or small pressed bodies which burn with a very hot. sootfree and visible flame without throwing of! particles during the combustion and without breaking; which are odorless, non-poisonous and leave no objectionable residues.

A more specific object is to provide a fuel of this character comprising hexamethylene tetramine.

All the solid fuels that have hitherto been prepared for household use or the like, have many drawbacks that seriously impair their efliciency. The shortcomings of the so-called solid alcohols and of metaldehyde tablets are generally known and' need not be discussed.

It has also been proposed to use hexamethylene tetramine as a solid fuel because of some properties that would recommend it for this use, particularly because, unlike metaldehyde, it is practically odorless and non-poisonous. However, hexamethylene tetramine is not free of other drawbacks that are well known in the art. Although several manners have been devised, and

the addition of other ingredients, the most serious shortcomings have never been overcome and have so far prevented the general adoption of this substance forv the aforementioned purposes.

A very serious drawback of hexamethylene tetramine, which renders the latter unsafe for domestic use, consists in the fact that the combustion of this substance is accompanied with a noticeable sputtering or small explosions whereby particles of burning matter are thrown off in all directions. This dangerous characteristic could not be eliminated merely by pressing the substance into tablets or the like. Such tablets, on the other hand, easily break and, so to speak, disintegrate during the burning. Furthermore, soot frequently forms on the surface of the buming tablets considerably disturbing the combustion. Among other drawbacks of hexamethylene tetramine there are a very high rate of combustion and a hardly visible flame; it has also been noted that it is of slow ignition.

The efforts hitherto made to eliminate these negative factors by adding other substances to hexamethylene tetramine have met with little success. Such additions have either proved useless or, having been made for the purpose of eliminating a given shortcoming, have brought also patented, for preparing it with or without about other and sometimes more serious drawbacks.

Thus the addition of oxygen developing substances for the purpose of preventing the formation of soot has led to an excessively high rate of combustion; the addition of paraffin for the purpose of coloring the flame has resulted in the formation of carbon residues that impair combustion and cause other disagreeable phenomena. The use of certain inorganic salts and other substances as combustion regulating agents etc. has proved ineffective to improve substantially the properties of the product. In other cases the heat yielded by the product has been reduced too much. The failure to obtain really satisfactory results notwithstanding the numerous attempts made by different inventors along different lines is a clear indication of the difficulty of the problems that had to be solved.

I have now found that all the aforementioned drawbacks may be eliminated and a perfect product may be provided by preparing a mixture of hexamethylene tetramine with certain substances that have not been used heretofore for this purpose. These substances belong to the class of organic compounds obtained from saturated higher fatty hydrocarbons, such as solid fusible saturated higher fatty alcohols.

I have obtained surprisingly good results by mixing hexamethylene tetramine with a small quantity of one of these substances; for instance, by preparing a mixture of 100 parts by weight of hexamethylene tetramine with 2 parts by weight of cetyl alcohol (CmHnOI-I) which, unlike other substances used by certain inventors, is a readily combustible substance.

The proportion of cetyl alcohol may be varied within certain, limits without affecting the value of the fuel; however, the best results are obtained by using 155% to 4% of cetyl alcohol.

A minor proportion of natural or synthetic resins may also be used in the composition; in this case the quantity of saturated higher fatty alcohol will be reduced correspondingly. For instance, the fuel may consist of gr. 100 of hexamethylene tetramine, gr. 1 of cetyl alcohol and gr. 1 of colophony.- However, the quantity i of saturated higher fatty alcohol should not be reduced to substantially less than 1 Small pressed bodies prepared according to my invention burn quietly and slowly with a visible flame, yielding a greater heat than pure hexamethylene tetramine, and without the formation ,of soot or of unpleasant residues. There is no throwing of! of particles during the combustion, the tablets are physically sumciently self-sustaining to prevent any breaking during use. The drawbacks inherent in hexamethyiene tetramine are eliminated while its various useful alcohol, or the like, is melted and added to finely. pulverized hexamethylene tetramine; the ingre-' clients are then thoroughly mixed, to form a homogenous mixture. by continued stirring in a warm bath at the temperature oi about 60 centigrades. The composition is then p into the desired shape. If desired, perfumes and coloring substances may be added. though this 'is hardly necessary and may well be omitted. It will be understood that my invention is not restricted to the examples given, and that y changes may be made in the composition without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What I claim is: 1

1. A solid fuel consisting approximately of W parts by-weight of heXamethylene tetrine and 2 parts by weight of cetyl alcohol.

2. A solid fuel consisting of hexamethylene tetramine, cetyl alcohol and colophony, the proportion oi the ingredients being 1% grams oi cetyl alcohol and 1 gram of coiophony to 100 grams of hexamethylene tetramine.

3. A solid fuel for household purposes and the like consisting approximately 0! 100 parts by weight 0! hexamethylene tetramine, l to 5 parts by weight of a solid fusible saturated higher fatty alcohol, and a minor proportion of a substance taken from the group consisting of natural and synthetic resins.

4. A solid fuel as in claim 3 wherein the substance taken from the group consisting of natural and synthetic resins is in the proportion of 1 to 5 parts by weight to 100 parts of hexamethylene tetramine.

5. A. solid iuel of the character described comoi hexamethylene tetre and a solid iusible saturated higher fatty alcohol, the proportion of this latter being not more than 5 parts by weight to 100 parts of hexamethylene tetramine.

- FERDINAND RINGER. 

